Videos: Mont Blanc Summit Flight

Above are a couple of good summit and flight videos - including Squash's great 10min version of her Mont Blanc challenge back in 2009. A 2min version is posted below - but this version shows the full prep and acclimatization process - and that it took her three attempts (including a summit) before the conditions were suitable to fly. This is why we've given ourselves two weeks plus, and will need a bit of luck!

Training Update: Photos

Apologies for the lack of updates over the last couple of weeks. A pretty turbulent and hectic time - with Jam dislocating his shoulder at Tough Mudder and Sam having an ulcer on his eyeball - but this has been peppered with some big 'climbing focused' rides around Box Hill and another trip down to Brighton. The biggest day en-route will be climbing the Jura montains and the Col de la Faucille - some brutally long and steep climbs before cruising down into Geneva - and so training is geared towards making sure we a) make it and b) enjoy it! I've embedded my Strava feed to the right of the page so you can see our training efforts, as well as track us down during the challenge.

Unfortunately our trip over to Chamonix and Annecy to visit Irwyn (Pilot and guide) was terribly timed - both in terms of terrible weather preventing any flying, and in terms of our health (Jam's flu and Sam's eye)- but it was great to meet some serious pilots, play with some of the gear and practice some ground handling. More will follow, but in the mean time - below are some pretty pictures:

This is the bag containing the wing and harness. We'll be carrying this - plus all of our equipment/food for a couple of days on the mountain. A considerable weight to climb 4,800m with!

Route planning

Finally off the ground! The highest altitude we reached all weekend